Oil Traders Navigate Iran War Impacts With Niche Spread Bets
Pumpjacks operate on oil wells in the Permian Basin in Crane, Texas.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergWith the US-Iran war creeping into its third month, oil traders are hedging against divergent outcomes tied to US inventories as the newly anointed top crude exporter faces unprecedented pressure to meet global demand.
One of the hedges, around the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release, last week helped to moderate crude futures. The other is a long-shot bet based on speculation that President Donald Trump will go to great lengths to tame rising fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections, or that the conflict will heat up again and further choke off Middle East oil supply.